Republicans have voted to slash the budget for NASA in the category of Earth sciences in a party-line vote on the budget authorization bill, cutting science programs studying climate change and boosting the Orion capsule and Space Launch System.

Republicans in the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology spearheaded a movement to cut funding for the Earth science division of NASA, shortly following a cut to the National Science Foundation’s geoscience budget in what appears to be an attack on scientists who believe that climate change is a real threat.

The budget authorization bill, which covers both the 2016 and 2017 budgets for NASA, would mainly approve the Obama administration’s request for funding but shift funds from basic sciences to human exploration, with the Orion capsule and Space Launch System rocket benefiting from a bit boost in funding, and planetary sciences getting an increase of $150 million.

The cut to Earth sciences was massive: funding would drop from nearly $2 billion in Obama’s budget proposal to just $1.45 billion if the committee gets its way. And there are more constraints that could cause the figure to drop all the way down to $1.2 billion, which would represent a stunning 40 percent cut.